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Don't rely on it, it's useful for centering a weapon quickly, but it lags moving targets slightly and most shots will miss. You'll need to learn to lead manually to hit moving targets, beyond that it always aims more or less center of mass which means it often smacks turrets which tend to be more armored. You'll get better results by aiming manually even on static targets to target the weakest armor you can see, and minimize angles. Yes the game also considers the angle of a striking shell so deflection is less likely if you aim at a piece of armor square to you, rather then firing at something from a shallow angle. Auto-aim does not care about that and will merely fire away at extremely poor angles.

I wouldn't say one hit per-say as from watching in spectator I seen a few of the mobile artillery types (mostly T57's) take a fair kicking so it probably just depends how far down the upgrade tree your SPG is.

Arty at low levels gives you a skewed view. Since basically nothing is armored enough to stop there shots and most tanks guns are weak at that level, so arty can survive hits and even bounce shots and kill most stuff with one shot. Beyond that the smaller arty guns also load fairly quickly, but up past T5 it changes allot as the guns reload much slower and tank armor get's thicker and tank guns do more damage.

It's still dangerous, but it can't be played like a TD anymore and most of them can't one shot tanks of similar levels. Overall while it still matters later on it's less dominating and can't save hopeless teams in and of itself. This is speaking as a guy with a Hummel.

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From all the tanks I seen sitting in the base most where medium/light tanks with the actual artillery units either moving further back behind the base or into the corner of the map.

Due to how the camo system is modelled and depending on the maps "camping" is just a fact of life as frankly defending is a fairly large advantage. Mind you attacking is certainly possible, but it tends to require either a skill advantage (hard to judge) or better coordination (rare). Most guys want to try and live as long as they can and not "waste" a game and so there is a marked tendency to play conservatively since just rushing off to die is punished pretty harshly (It could end up being effectively a 10 to 15 minute "respawn" for that tank)

This matters less as you acquire more vehicles, but if you're looking to grind out some exp on a specific one nothing sucks more then dying two minutes into a game, sitting out ten minutes, and then getting like 50 exp for the game.

Ah, thank you very much Keroko for telling me this, but I personally moused over one of the tanks at my base camp and found it to be a T1 tank, so I can count him as a leecher. But I'll be more aware of how artillery players play atleast but one-shot by a light tank... That is pretty fragile indeed..

Well, it is pretty important to defend your base as well. Everyone blindly rushing towards the enemy base just leaves yours open for a capture. I wouldn't go as far as to claim everyone who stays behind as being a leecher. Defenders are more important then you think.

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Originally Posted by Drake

I wouldn't say one hit per-say as from watching in spectator I seen a few of the mobile artillery types (mostly T57's) take a fair kicking so it probably just depends how far down the upgrade tree your SPG is.

Well, that's true, the higher tiers aren't insta-killed. But their health and armor still pales in comparison to other tanks.

From all the tanks I seen sitting in the base most where medium/light tanks with the actual artillery units either moving further back behind the base or into the corner of the map.

IMO this is a wrong strategy to play, unless the enemy is actually pushing you back. If you sit in the corner as artillery, you can barely hit half the screen, which means you can't support your team when they push. Personally, I drive forwards when the game starts, find a place to hide close to our base and watch how the battle goes. If our team starts pushing, I support them by blasting away some of the tanks holding them back and advance when they do (though still staying behind the frontlines). If they're driving us back, I support them by providing covering fire and helping to stop the advance. That's when I might consider a tactical retreat backwards.

Moving forwards also allows you to take out the enemy artillery, which is usually too distracted shooting at the advancing front-line and leave themselves wide open.

Bottomline is, going to the back of your base is just limits your range. An artillery that can't hit the enemy is as useless as a leecher.

Only if they penetrate, as noted at higher levels the tanks armor gets thick enough to bounce shells. It's entirely possible for atry to smack a tank four or five times and do nothing because the shooting angle is resulting in frontal armor hits. Even with penetration it's not assured the Hummel and GW Panther 155 can in theory do almost 1200 damage in a single hit, but a max damage roll is rare and even that still would not one shot even a Tiger I.

The Tiger is technically higher teir, but Arty tends to get counted as 2-3 tiers higher then it's technical level due to the shorter tree. The "T5" Hummel used to be the end of the Germany arty tree for instance and would constantly be put into games with T9-10 tanks.

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IMO this is a wrong strategy to play, unless the enemy is actually pushing you back. If you sit in the corner as artillery, you can barely hit half the screen, which means you can't support your team when they push.

That's only true at low levels once you hit about T4 arty you can range basically any map totally, so then line of sight and where you can shot is what matters. No arty in higher level games will ever be anywhere but the far, far back of the map in a bush, nor should it be mind you.

Even at lower levels movement should be as minimal as possible as arty that's moving and not shooting is contributing nothing, moving too much is far, far worse then not moving at all frankly.

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Moving forwards also allows you to take out the enemy artillery, which is usually too distracted shooting at the advancing front-line and leave themselves wide open.

Again this is only true at low level, once you can range the entire map Counter Battery is possible from anywhere. It's also why getting anywhere NEAR the front is stupid, the MOMENT anyone gets vis on you shells will be coming in from the enemy arty without them having to move an inch. This also is part of what makes arty OP at low level, the lack of a significant CB threat.

That said at least to me CB remains a secondary role. Unless you have a really good idea where he's shooting from wasting time chasing tracers can just result in them blowing up half your team, and even if you do kill them eventually if they've knocked out a half dozen tanks by then who cares?

The lower tiers tend to be tough but I'd rather it be tough and let people learn on the lower tiers than to have people playing their tanks like idiots when their contribution to the team is much greater. Unfortunately, there are still too many people like that : [

PzKpfW 4 with the same turret as the 3rd , haven't played much as of late
but seriously , I can't really damage/penetrate anything on a similar tier or higher with what I got , I have an equal amount of the 3 Shells avail , only the gold currancy one does slightly anything (at best 36% damage at worst 1%)

The lower tiers tend to be tough but I'd rather it be tough and let people learn on the lower tiers than to have people playing their tanks like idiots when their contribution to the team is much greater. Unfortunately, there are still too many people like that : [

I find too many light tanks just sitting at base camp and just moving back and forth but the people I usually play with seem to be good, we did get a couple of wins but I unfortunately get the bad luck of being up against a tank destroyer

I've been stuck with the SU-85 for the past few days and I'm finding it impossible to advance any further.

I only ever seem to get lumped into games with IM's, T1's, KV's and all of the other stupidly high power/armour tanks and I really don't seem to stand a chance against them, I basically die after a single hit and can never seem to hit them back hard enough to cause sufficient damage...

I've been stuck with the SU-85 for the past few days and I'm finding it impossible to advance any further.

I only ever seem to get lumped into games with IM's, T1's, KV's and all of the other stupidly high power/armour tanks and I really don't seem to stand a chance against them, I basically die after a single hit and can never seem to hit them back hard enough to cause sufficient damage...

What I find bizarre is that I meant to be running a tank destroyer that ironically cant destroy tanks.

I've currently got the 85-mm cannon mounted and tried all the shells types (HE seem most effective for damaging but never penetrate) and the only thing I seem to be able to destroy in 2-3 hits are other tank destroyers and maybe SPG's if I ever survive long enough to get close.

From what I've read on the official WOT forums alot of people are having the same problem and it gets a little easier when you unlock the next TD down the tech tree (SU-85A).

... My first question is why are you trying to get close at all? I've been raking up kills like no tomorrow, the trick is to use the long range that comes with the tank destroyer. Just zoom in to max using your mouse wheel and snipe away.

Tank Destroyers aren't meant for running and gunning. If Light Tanks are Scouts, Medium Tanks Soldiers, and Heavy Tanks Heavies, then Tank Destroyers are Snipers. Tank Destroyers do have an innate bonus to camouflage afterall (and they are considered as not having turrets, so moving your gun doesn't break your camo at all), and thus are best utilized hiding in some foliage to ambush would-be rushers and other enemies from long range - as they were actually used in WW2. You can use them Assault Gun-style, but only if you have some reliable backup to cover your flanks, or are the only one left in your team.

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On Flying: "For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

I don't =s I usually stay well hidden back behind the main force but most of the high tier tanks seem to be able to able to send accurate shots just as far as I can but usually result in me dying after single hit.

There are times when I would follow a small group and flank around outskirts to either cap the enemies base or take out their artillery but again I would stay at the rear of the group.

I'd have thought the SU-85's higher armour count would make it a little more resistant than the SU-85B but there doesn't really seem to be any difference.

One thing that I think would be a useful addition would be the ability to deploy smoke although the effect on server performance would likely cause issues.